Incredible Nashville ignorance

[Al Marcus]

Well guys, no matter what those reporters don't know about Pedal Steel Guitar. WE KNOW!!! It is one of the most versatile and beautiful instruments in the World, and maybe some day in the future, they will wise up to it.

Michael-I agree with your post. I amd an old steel pioneer and know so many ,big Band, jazz,Broadway show tunes, country, etc,.It is amazing that I can still remember all of them.
But you "young whipersnappers" are all coming up and doing great things with your Steel Guitars, and you too someday will be "Old-Timers". Keep the Faith...al.:):)

[Chris LeDrew]

At least she said it sounded nice.

[Norman Carlton]

Just had to jump in here. We have a YOUTH PRAISE BAND in our church, and they usually have a "Praise Concert" the first Sunday Night of each month. Last month their bass player could not make it so I filled in on bass guitar for them. Sorta got their trust, and I enjoyed it very much. Since I had played most of their songs, at least once, and had made some basic charts for the bass guitar, I decided I would push my luck. So,last Sunday I showed up with my SHO-BUD D10 and Peavy 1000. Just setting it up and tuning it brought a lot of attention from the younger crowd. None of them really knew what it was. I played the concert with them and afterwards got some WOWs, That's Kool, and that sound adds a celestial,mistery, sound to the music. I got some very good inquiring questions and I think some interest in learning the instrumet. (BTW I really don't play that well)but to give you some idea of the age group, after the concert the minister came up to me and stated "when I was "GROWING UP" "POCO" was my favorite band and I remember they had a guitar similar to yours! Gee, I know I'm old but......

[Willis Vanderberg]

A lady ask me the other night if I thought she could learn to play one in a couple of months...yeah right..

Another lady was watching me put the guitar together one night and when I popped it out of the case and set it on the floor she said." thank goodness, I couldn't see how you were going to make any music on the other side of that thing ". Actually I am more proficient on the underside...

[Al Marcus]

Bud-You better watch out for those Florida young Widows....take care...al.:):)

[Paul Redmond]

On 12/30/2006 I played we played a Gospel show at a church in Milton WI. To my surprise a bunch of the younger kids sat directly in front of me and watched every single move I made on that guitar. When the gig was over, they surrounded me and asked me questions for about half an hour. I patiently answered all their questions some of which pertained to the mechanics of the instrument. When I was finally able to set it upside down in the case, the 'crowd' re-assembled as they wanted to know what 'all that stuff does under there'. I believe there is a natural curiosity about these things. My guess is that some of those kids told their schoolmates about it and will be looking for the instrument every time they see a show somewhere. I not only view myself as a picker, but as a good-will ambassador for the instrument. A respectfully-answered question with a quickie demonstration goes a long way!! Re: the woman who wants to learn one of these things in a few weeks or so, I tell people that I will have them playing a simple 3-chord song in one hour or less even though they've never played a lick of music before. I had my own cousin playing "Your Cheatin' Heart" one day 3 summers ago even though he'd never seen a steel 'in person'. That same curiosity and intrigue about the steel is what drove me to start playing one in the first place.
PRR

[Frank Freniere]

One of the nice things about satellite radio is that the DJs are usually pretty knowledgable, they mainly stay out the way, there are no commercials... and, oh yeah, there's 5 or 6 channels of country music that you will never hear outside of your iPod, let alone on Nashville terrestrial radio.

[Dennis Schell]

A lady ask me the other night if I thought she could learn to play one in a couple of months...yeah right..

Well, she might've progressed far enough to get hooked huh? (Provided she was serious...) It took me a couple hours one evening to get where I could play most of "Above and Beyond" my first time behind a pedal steel...(Albeit, SLOWLY and my intonation was a "little" off...!?!) But I'M still hooked!

FWIW,

Dennis